From: Suella Postles
To: WAPIERCE-L@rootsweb.com
How do I go about getting probate material for my grandparents who lived in
Pierce County [Washington], please? I think one died in Steillacombe (spelling?)
the other in a Tacoma nursing home. Many thanks for your help and advice. Suella
in England.

DearSUELLA,Ol' Myrt here has a few pointers for you.
Since you live in England, you can't just go visit the courthouse in person. But
then, many of us no longer live near the ancestral home, so we face similar
problems.

Before writing for the records (which is extra work
for the already very busy clerks of the court), let's hope the records are
available on microfilm at the Family History Library. Then itís a simple matter
to borrow a copy of the roll that has your grandparents' probate papers. This
would be done through your local LDS Family History Center in England.

WHEN YOU
ARE NEW TO DOING RESEARCH IN A SPECIFIC LOCALITY Find out what
the experts know about doing genealogical research in that area. For that I
recommend viewing and printing pertinent "RESEARCH OUTLINES" from the Family
History Library. These are also available in printed format, but I love the
online versions because they have clickable links to glossary terms, catalog
entries and related websites. You will find these by going to:

FamilySearch.org

Click the SEARCH tab

Click RESEARCH HELP

Click "W" in this case for Washington & scroll down
to see all the resources available to guide you in the task of researching
Washington state record groups for your ancestors.

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EACH
JURISDICTION HANDLES PROBATE DIFFERENTLY

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Since each state in the US has jurisdiction over
its own court system, you'll find that how/where probate records are kept may
vary from state to state. From the WASHINGTON RESEARCH OUTLINE, IBID, we read:

"PROBATE RECORDS - In the territorial era, probate
courts were established in each county to keep records of wills, bonds, orders,
and the administrations of estates. When the superior courts succeeded the
probate courts in 1891, all of the records of the clerks of the probate courts
were transferred to the county clerk in each courthouse. Some probates were
filed in the superior court. The Family History Library has not acquired copies
of probate records in Washington. They are available at the various county
courthouses, or the county may have transferred early records to the Washington
State Archives."

OK, two things here to note:

The FHL Research Outlines discuss records groups
that are not part of the collection (thankfully).

The records you seek are NOT available on
microfilm, as we had hoped, so you've got 2 places to look, namely the county
courthouse and failing that, check the Washington State Archives.

SEE WHAT
THEY DO HAVE BEFORE LEAVING FAMILYSEARCH.ORG By using the FHLCatalog,
and specifying Pierce, Washington, we learn that "Pierce County was created 22
December 1852 from Thurston County. County seat: Tacoma." This town name of
Tacoma will prove useful to you when attempting to contact the clerk of the
court for Pierce County, Washington probate records. The "county seat" is the
term for the town where the county courthouse exists.

The following categories of records might prove
useful to your research in addition to the probate records you seek. Most
microfilm and microfiche are "lendable" but books must remain on the shelves in
Salt Lake City at the Family History Library.

Washington, Pierce - Biography

Washington, Pierce - Business records and
commerce

Washington, Pierce - Cemeteries

Washington, Pierce - Census - 1878

Washington, Pierce - Census - 1879

Washington, Pierce - Census - 1889

Washington, Pierce - Description and travel

Washington, Pierce - Directories

Washington, Pierce - Funeral homes

Washington, Pierce - Genealogy

Washington, Pierce - History

Washington, Pierce - Names, Geographical

Washington, Pierce - Naturalization and
citizenship

Washington, Pierce - Naturalization and
citizenship - Indexes

Washington, Pierce - Newspapers

Washington, Pierce - Obituaries

Washington, Pierce - Societies

Washington, Pierce - Vital records

Washington, Pierce - Vital records - Indexes

DETERMINE THE ADDRESS OF THE COUNTY CLERK The following books
list each county in a US State, with the date of establishment, parent county,
contact info for the clerk of the court. Included is a summary of the date each
record group began to be kept.

The contact information is available, but I do not
know from this site if probate records are kept at the Pierce County superior
court, or if they have been forwarded to the Washington state archives.

IF YOU
ARE NOT SURE OF THE SPELLING OF A TOWN OR COUNTY Check some online
resources such as
http://www.USGenWeb.com or the catalog at the Family History
Library. Taking the example of the FHL, here's how you'd do it:

Click on that hyperlink for the locality, in
this case, "Washington, Pierce"

Click the VIEW RELATED PLACES button toward the
upper right of your screen.

Scroll down to see if the more specific locality
is listed. In this place we find: Washington, Pierce, Steilacoom

This lets you know that the spelling is Steilacoom
not Steillacombe.

This doesn't always work, because its possible that
the FHLCatalog does not yet have a record for every locality that ever existed
since the dawn of time. (But they're working on it!) <grin>

THINK
CREATIVELY WITH AN EYE TO THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Also note that
over time, the name of a place may have changed radically, and that may or may
not be reflected in a catalog description for that place. I am thinking in this
case of places in eastern Europe, where we know from studying history that the
boundaries changed radically as an army conquered another's territory, only to
have an upset decades later. I guess we have to think creatively, Suella, as you
most certainly did by writing to the Pierce County Washington mailing list at
RootsWeb.com. THAT is one of the BEST ways to contact genealogy researchers with
an interest in the same locality.